Developing Practitioner-Researchers in Private Higher Education

This chapter examines how practitioner-researchers can thrive in private higher education institutions despite heavy teaching loads, compliance pressures, and limited research cultures. It analyses regional conditions across Singapore, China, Malaysia, and India, illustrating how faculty reconstruct practitioner-research identities through professional inquiry, doctoral study, and context-based exploration. The chapter introduces the PRIMED Framework, Professional learning communities, Research capacity building, Incentives, Mentoring, Ethics, and Dissemination, to embed inquiry into institutional routines. Practical scaffolds such as proposal templates, reflexive tools, and impact logs help lower barriers to practitioner research. Through case narratives, the chapter demonstrates how practice-based inquiry strengthens teaching, curriculum reform, and organisational learning, positioning PEIs as sites of educational innovation.